A new gay rights movement is stirring in Belarus and 19 year-old Sergei Androsenko is helping to lead it.
At a conference on the topic 'Do radical organizations have the right to exist?' held in Minsk on Tuesday, Androsenko found himself seated with members of Bealarus' far right organizations. The conversation quickly turned to the topic of homosexuality and Androsenko, a member of the Belarusian Initiative for Sexual and Gender Equality argued strongly on behalf of equal rights for LGBT people living in Slavic Europe.
Even the right-wingers were impressed. A member of the Pravyi Alliance said: “This young guy certainly came and got what he wanted – everyone is discussing homosexualityâ€.
After the conference, Androsenko spoke with the press and spoke passionately about how the gay community must engage homophobia head on:
"We, the representatives of the movement for the rights of sexual minorities, should not be scared to come to the events of our opponents.
We must go to them, we must knock on their doors, we must try to tell them about homosexuality what they don't know.Participation in this event persuaded me that phobias of far right radicals are mostly due to the fact that they don’t know anything about homosexuality, they follow well known rooted stereotypes.
I heard absolutely illiterate and ridiculous accusations towards people like me, towards homosexuals."
A week ago, Belarusian and Russian gay activists met in Minsk and pledged to form a Slavic Gay Pride movement.
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I'm deeply impressed by his courage about speaking so openly and frankly in places such as that. I'm ashamed to admit it, but he's far more brave than I ever was at the age of 19. If I were the praying sort, I'd certainly pray for his safety.
This young man should be a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
First off, Mr. Androsenko has balls the size of bulls to wade into the vipers pit and challenge hate head on. We sometimes forget that our queer brothers and sisters around the world aren't nearly as well off as we are, equality wise.
Secondly, a stupid question: How is Belarusian pronounced?
What a brave guy, and at 19, I'm impressed with how he handled it. Just goes to show the power of words. I suspect the only reason certain other LGBT people would attend is to protest outside. I hope he faces no reprisals, he certainly deserves great recognition and gratitude for this.
Not to detract from his achievement, but he is pretty into the bargain! :)
@Paul Raposo. The following link will give you an aural pronunciation.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Belarusian
Bravo, Mr. Androsenko. You are one, very brave young man. You have the deepest admiration, respect and gratitude of the GLBT community, worldwide for your actions.
We all stand solidly behind you and support your words and actions. Keep up the good fight.
It's like pronouncing Russia, or Russian, and than adding Bela (like the Italian word Bella) in front of it.
Actually, it's similar because a lot of Russians and Belarusians do not distinguish between the two heritages. Russia actually controlled Belarus for hundreds of years prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and there was a lot of talk in the late 1990s about joining the two countries.
Belarus is probably the only country in the world where the national language (in this case, Belarusian) is actively DISCOURAGED. Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the dictator, is hell bent on making Belarus either part of Russia or Russia in relative miniature.
@Charles J. Mueller:
@epluribusunum:
Thanks Charles and Epluribusunum 8^)
I thought it might be one of those tricky words, like Beauchamp.
@Paul Raposo:
You're very welcome! Now, perhaps you can help me out with a question that I have? ;-)
How do you get the person's name after the @ symbol to show up in red?
@Charles J. Mueller:
Charles, on my screen in this reply, your name came up in blue, rather than red and it's a hyperlink that can be clicked; yet my name in your reply came up as black and is not clickable. I'm not sure as to why the difference.
Why these things happen, I have no idea. I'm pretty nearly computer illiterate. Maybe another reader can enlighten us both.
Balls size aside, there was nothing extraordinary in the whole thing.